One Dead, 27 Injured by Carbon Monoxide Leak at Long Island Mall

Diners left their uneaten dishes inside a Legal Sea Foods where a manager died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Peter J. Smith for The Wall Street Journal

By Alison Fox and Joe Jackson

A carbon monoxide leak from a faulty heating system killed one man and injured 27 others inside a restaurant at the Walt Whitman Mall in Huntington Station on Saturday night, authorities said.

Police responded to the Legal Sea Foods after a woman fell and hit her head in the basement at about 6 p.m. When officers arrived, they felt nauseous and dizzy and recognized the symptoms as carbon monoxide poisoning, police said.

Steven Nelson, the 55-year-old manager of the seafood restaurant, was found unconscious in the basement. Mr. Nelson, from Copiague, was rushed to Huntington Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

The other victims, including three police officers and four ambulance personnel, were taken to five area hospitals with non-life threatening symptoms. Police said most of the victims were employees at the restaurant.

Officials identified a leaking flue pipe from one of the water heaters as the cause of the poisoning, said Terence McNally, Huntington Chief Fire Marshall. The restaurant had no carbon monoxide detectors, which are only required in places where people sleep, authorities said.

The restaurant’s annual inspection was due next month, said Town Spokesman A.J. Carter. Police said the poisoning seems to be confined to the basement of the seafood restaurant. A summons was issued to Legal Sea Foods for the defective heating equipment, said Mr. McNally.

A staff member at the restaurant said co-workers were concerned after Mr. Nelson failed to return from the basement after more than an hour, and the female manager who went to investigate didn’t return.

On Sunday, co-workers remembered Mr. Nelson as a hard-working and friendly man.

“It’s a tragedy. It’s the loss of a friend and a colleague,” the restaurant’s regional vice-president, Scott Flanagan, said briefly as he arrived at the site to meet with fire marshals. He added that the manager had worked there for about three years.

Bartender John Restel said Mr. Nelson loved to travel and recently visited Israel.

“He talked a lot and asked everyone to high-five their partners before their shifts,” said Mr. Restel.

Legal Sea Foods’ official Twitter page remembered Mr. Nelson on Saturday night. “We are profoundly saddened to learn of the tragic death of our General Manager Steve Nelson. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”

Legal Sea Foods, as well as surrounding restaurants Panera Bread and the Cheesecake Factory, were evacuated following the incident.

By Sunday, both Panera Bread and Legal Sea Foods were still closed. The seafood restaurant appeared untouched, a reminder of the haste to flee the night before: tables were uncleared, with half-drunk bottles of wine, uneaten food on plates and other clutter strewn across them.

The restaurant will remain closed until a certified plumber fixes the heating system and the building is reinspected, said Mr. Carter.

But the mall was bustling Sunday, and the Cheesecake Factory had reopened its doors.

“I was very surprised,” said customer Mary Ellen Donnelly, 47, of Huntington, who was heading in to the restaurant for breakfast with her parents. ”It did make us a little cautious, but we figured it would not be open if it hadn’t been cleared